I've been here almost two weeks, so it's time for another blog.

My bedroom is a crisp white Ikea showroom complete with fold-away bed. There’s a spider crouching above me, shrewdly out of reach of the hoover. According to Google, it’s one of Australia’s more benign beasts. If it came to a fight, this bad boy would leave me with a headache and nausea. Basically tame, then.

A week and a half since arriving, I have been very busy and done very little. Much of my time has been spent shopping – I’m not sure what I packed into my enormous suitcase, but there are plenty of things I didn’t.

Op shops, or second hand shops, are definitely the place to go. For the past week I’ve been trawling them with the other internationals: Germans, Americans, and me as the solitary Brit. Our local area has a few bargains, including the ever wonderful Salvo’s. Chapel Street, Windsor and Sydney Road, Brunswick have more on offer, including Savers: a massive op shop about the size of your average supermarket. Now equipped with pots, pans, purse, heels, and other (un)necessary finds, I’m set, whether my plan is to cook dinner or go on a night out – and my pact against first-hand fast fashion, and, for the most part, first hand shopping full stop, remains intact.

Today we headed to the Finders Keepers Market in Carlton Gardens, a massive independent designer market where Etsy store owners leave the virtual world and get behind tills. I stocked up on tea (I’ve decided to accept that tea is pretty expensive here) and, though I didn’t buy, was sorely tempted by Able and Game's card selection. I think I’ll have to buy a couple online – their metro puns are right up my street. That train of thought is definitely something I can get on board with:

Buy here!

I’ve been watching a fair few movies over the past few days. Now that uni has started for most of the people in my res, nights in are beginning to be favoured over nights out, and my education in the art of cinema has so far comprised of Blackfish, The Descendants, Geordie Shore, Embarrassing Bodies, the first episode of Game of Thrones and, finally, an incredibly messed up Australian horror: The Loved Ones.

I’ll leave you with the trailer, which shows approximately 5% of the horror of the entire movie. After two hours, my disgusted expression was beginning to stick. Kidnap, murder, torture, self-harm, lobotomy, cannibalism, sexual perversion, incest – this movie’s got it all. Australian horror, much like Australian humour, takes no prisoners.

The scrapbooking has begun. This blog is now officially illustrated.